America has Failed Young People

Growing up, I still remember when people used to make fun of millennials for living at home with their parents. Nowadays, no one would bat an eye if you said that you moved back home after college. In fact, most people will tell you that it’s a smart financial decision to live with one’s parents.

So then, why did so many people’s attitudes change? Why is it the “New Normal” for young adults to live with their parents into their 20’s and even 30’s?

Well for one, housing prices throughout America have skyrocketed in recent years. In the past decade alone, housing prices across the US have increased by roughly 50% on average. In fact, inflated housing prices have made home ownership (in most metropolitan areas) seriously difficult for anyone earning less than a six-figure salary. Even when adjusting for inflation, housing costs are still astronomically higher than the past. The median home price in America was about $150 k in 2002–compared to over $380 k in 2022.

Based on this situation, homeownership will likely be unattainable for many young Americans anytime soon. Yet, no one seems to care. When’s the last time you’ve heard a politician who wants to stop investment firms like Blackrock from buying up single-family homes–which artificially increases housing prices?

The lack of home ownership among young Americans is a symptom of a much deeper problem. The reality is that the American regime has failed young Americans.

Our nation has failed to provide young adults with the skills, attitudes, and beliefs necessary to live an economically, spiritually, and socially successful life.

Economically, many young Americans are unlikely to achieve the same level economic success as their parents. Here are just some of the factors that have dampened the economic prospects of young Americans: mass immigration, stagnating wages, the off-shoring of American manufacturing jobs overseas, and skyrocketing college tuition costs/student loan debt levels.

No wonder many young Americans look to political figures like Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang to solve their economic woes. The American right-wing needs to address the economic concerns of young Americans through economic nationalist policies–instead of the typical hand-waving away these legitimate issues.

While the future economic prospects for young Americans may appear dim, the spiritual state for American youth is in even worse shape. More than one-third of Americans ages 18-29 identify as religiously unaffiliated or as a religious “none”. Most Americans under-30 do not believe there’s an absolute truth, and less than half of young American adults (i.e. Millennials and Gen Z) are members of a Christian Church. Additionally, a large contingent of young Americans suffer from clinical depression and addiction to social media.

Young Americans are also falling behind in their social relations. One in five Millennials report having zero close friends, and about half of young adults are not involved in a romantic relationship. Concerning marriage, a fair amount of young Americans will never marry. For the ones who do eventually marry, American adults are marrying at a much later age than their parents and grandparents–contributing to lower birth rates.

We cannot keep pretending like our youth is doing well these days. Many young adults in America are struggling financially, spiritually, and socially.

We should all desire the success of our fellow Americans–regardless of age. Our political and societal leaders must put the needs of our nation’s youth to the forefront of our public policy decisions.

The current American regime is failing my generation, and America’s youth will pay the consequences for decades of moral degradation and cultural decay in the United States.